Michael Hinkley and Lidia Stiglich, co-council for their client San Francisco Sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi, making their way to Department 24 for a pre-trial court appearance at the Hall of Justice, San Francisco, Ca., on Wednesday Feb. 22 2012. less

Michael Hinkley and Lidia Stiglich, co-council for their client San Francisco Sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi, making their way to Department 24 for a pre-trial court appearance at the Hall of Justice, San Francisco, ... more

Photo: Michael Macor, SFC

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Assistant San Francisco District Attorney, Aguilar Tarchi, makes her way to department 24 for a pre-trial court appearance by San Francisco Sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi at the Hall of Justice, San Francisco, Ca., on Wednesday Feb. 22 2012. less

Assistant San Francisco District Attorney, Aguilar Tarchi, makes her way to department 24 for a pre-trial court appearance by San Francisco Sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi at the Hall of Justice, San Francisco, Ca., ... more

Photo: Michael Macor, SFC

Image 3 of 3

Mirkarimi lawyer seeks to bar wife's video

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San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi's attorneys moved Wednesday to exclude key prosecution evidence against him in his domestic violence case, including a video in which his wife described how he had allegedly bruised her on New Year's Eve and had abused her once before.

Mirkarimi, 50, made a brief appearance Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court in advance of his trial on charges of misdemeanor domestic violence battery, dissuading a witness and child endangerment. Outside court, he said he was "looking forward to getting this past us."

Prosecutors have sought to portray Mirkarimi as a manipulative "Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde" figure who resorts to rage and violence when he doesn't get his way, including the New Year's Eve incident that authorities say left his wife with a bruise on her right arm.

On Wednesday, his lawyers filed a motion seeking to undermine such claims by excluding a video that a neighbor of Mirkarimi and his wife, Eliana Lopez, shot in which Lopez described how her husband had hurt her during an argument.

Lopez also said it was the second time Mirkarimi had abused her, and cited an incident that another neighbor has told authorities allegedly occurred in March.

Mirkarimi's attorney, Lidia Stiglich, said the video and the two neighbors' accounts of what Lopez told them about the incident were inadmissible on a variety of grounds.

The neighbors' statements are hearsay, Stiglich argued. Lopez herself has denounced the case against her husband and has not cooperated with prosecutors.

A witness' recounting of a victim's spontaneous statement is often admissible in court, but Lopez's comments to her neighbors came 20 hours after the incident, Stiglich noted.

The video that one of the neighbors, Ivory Madison, shot the day after the incident should be excluded because Lopez was not recounting what happened to build a criminal case against her husband, Stiglich said.

Instead, the attorney argued, Lopez was documenting evidence for a possible child custody case. Stiglich noted that Lopez said on the tape that Mirkarimi had accused her of plotting to take the couple's 2-year-old son with her to her native Venezuela.

Madison told police that the video was intended to document the bruise in the event of a "nasty" custody dispute during a divorce, Stiglich noted.

That means Lopez could have had a motive to lie about how she received the bruise, Stiglich said.

In court filings Wednesday, prosecutors sought permission to put a former girlfriend of Mirkarimi's, Christina Flores, on the stand. She has told police that Mirkarimi shoved her against a wall four years ago.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Aguilar-Tarchi said she intends to show a pattern of abusive behavior by the sheriff and former supervisor. Mirkarimi, by Flores' account, "took his rage out on her" when he received "bad press or a setback at work," Aguilar-Tarchi said.

The prosecution and defense motions will be ruled on by the trial judge, who has not been named. A judge is to be assigned to the case Friday, and jury selection could begin within days.